When I was a student, entrepreneurialism simply meant how many different ways we could eat beans and student loans were but a distant flicker in someone’s eye, but now a whole new generation of students are putting these two words together and coming out with an entirely different answer. The advent of programmes like Dragons Den and The Apprentice have convinced any Sid, Nancy or Cuthbert that they too could be entrepreneurs, why if that magnificent creature by the name of Yasmina can do it, then so can I.  These students are then taking their loans and investing it into their own businesses.  So we’ve got cottage industries cropping up all over the place, and this time they’re growing more than just dope. Yes entrepreneurial students are taking their loans or overdrafts and ploughing it into businesses, take Maria Alema who has founded a lingerie company with £500 from her overdraft or Ms Boubker who has used some of her student loan to launch a Moroccan inspired fashion label.  So if you haven’t spent your loan on the essentials like a roof over your head or beer in your belly perhaps it’s time to spend it on a business venture?

There are more budding entrepreneurs out there then you’d think.  It’s thought that more and more graduates are turning their hand to setting up their own business in an attempt to leap frog the great job hunt.

The smart chaps over at the Cranfield School of Management are expecting more of the class of 2009 than ever before to strike out on their own.  The chief smart chap, Andrew Burke said: “There’s no question that this cohort of students is particularly interested in entrepreneurship; it’s been increasing in the last few years and it predates the downturn.”

The increase from 7% to 15% percent can be put down in part to the ever improving network of support organisations such as Business Link and NGCE, but also to the success of television programmes such as Dragons Den and The Apprentice that make the difficult look like a walk in the park.  Plus taking into account the ever popular economic downturn, recruitment lull and general credit crunching and it looks like that 15% could soon be 20% or 25%.

The cherry on top of the argument is that according to research entrepreneurs that set up businesses in an economic downturn tend to do better than those businesses set up in a boom.

Chain-smoking, tall and dull Dragon’s Den star Peter Jones has successfully leant his weight to setting up a National Skills Academy in entrepreneurship by getting the £30m backing of government.  More than 11,000 14- to 19-year-olds are expected to benefit from the Enterprise Academy in the first three years, taking vocational qualifications in enterprise and entrepreneurship. It is one of 4 new academies tasked with giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to become tomorrow’s business leaders – in sectors including engineering and IT. The aim is to deliver a “world-beating” workforce for the UK, just in time for the end of the credit crunch no doubt. Proof again that a degree alone is never enough…

47-year-old Shaun Pulfrey went on Dragon’s Den with his Tangle Tweezers and was laughed off set. The London hairdresser’s device is designer to smooth knotted hair retails for £9.99 but the Dragons weren’t interested in 15% of his business for an £85k investment. More fool them; since the show was aired internet sales have rocketed and now Boots have signed a lucrative deal to sell the product in store. This has pushed the firm to a £800k turnover, giving Pulfrey a £200k profit. If a Dragon had invested they would have made £33k this year and £60k next, ending up in profit within 24 months (I done the maths). Its been a long time coming for the scissor twiddler; he came up with the idea for the life saving product 15 years ago and had been working on the prototype since 2004.

There’s only two easy ways to a millionaire’s lifestyle: give-in to John Leslie or win the lottery. Make no mistake, all other ways require work, and lots of it. This is confirmed by a Bank of Scotland survey of 1,000 small and medium sized businesses that found British entrepreneurs working 50-hour weeks and several are taking less than the UK statutory holiday minimum – and over a quarter of them see things getting worse before they get better thanks to the looming recession. And, as with most things, it gets more depressing as you head north: Scottish entrepreneurs work the most hours, about 4 hours more than those in the South East. The survey found that 71% of bosses claim to be stressed, up from 54% last year. The survey makes an interesting point at its coda: many of those interviewed felt that the extended hours weren’t spent satisfying the needs of a growing business, but dealing with tax and regulation red tape. It’s a nice idea to be your boss, but its funny how you don’t see Sean Jean filling out his small firm loans guarantee form…